Bob Welbaum
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Tales from the 1st Annual NFFC WORLD Convention
I have recently returned from the NFFC’s 1st Annual WORLD Convention, held Sep 29 – Oct 1 at the Walt Disney World Swan Resort. This brought back fond memories of some past NFFC events in Florida. At one time, the World Chapter was hosting “minicons�?; I know of two, in 1991 and 1993, because I attended both. (Hey, maybe they would make some good future columns?) But now I’m going to tell you about some highlights from this year.
First I’m going to drop the other shoe. Last time I told you about Eddie Carroll, one of the convention’s speakers. Although best known for his one-man show portraying the legendary entertainer Jack Benny, this talented show-business veteran is also the official voice of Jiminy Cricket (for the full picture, visit www.eddiecarroll.com). As a convention preview, I had repeated Eddie’s story of how Pinocchio was the first movie he had ever seen. He was so taken with this animated classic – and with the character Jiminy Cricket (what better fantasy friend for a child?) -- that for months he drove his folks crazy talking about it. It got to the point where his mother finally said “Will you stop with Jiminy Cricket? You’re driving me nuts!�? And little Eddie quickly replied, “Well, one day I’ll meet Jiminy Cricket and he’ll be my friend.�?
So what did happen when Eddie actually became Jiminy’s voice? For those of you who couldn’t attend, this is the other half of the story as Eddie described it:
Now, naturally that time goes by, years went by, I studied theater arts, came to Hollywood, worked as an actor, and so forth. And I get this audition, and I get the part of Jiminy Cricket. My first official job as the new character, the new voice of Jiminy Cricket, was to sing the song “When You Wish Upon a Star.�? Boy, I was so excited! I couldn’t wait, this was terrific. Singing was not a problem; I did musical comedy, and I’d been a professional actor for years.
So I show up at Studio B on the Disney lot in Burbank. The full orchestra is there and Buddy the conductor was standing there. And he and I had met previously and talked about the song, making sure it was my right key and so forth.
So here I am ready to sing. I got some water, got in front of the microphone. He said “Eddie, you ready?�? And I said “Yea!�? Doing good and everything else. Starts the downbeat: “When you wish upon a star.�? [Touches cheeks] Tears start pouring down my face. I thought what the heck? Is there a hole in the ceiling or something like that? Couldn’t understand it. I didn’t feel bad. Wasn’t sad. Where is this coming from?
So the conductor stopped, and he said “Are you all right?�? And I said “Yea.�? “Okay.�? “When you wish…�? And again, tears started pouring down.
He said “You want to take a minute and collect yourself?�?
So I said okay. I got some coffee, and I went outside to get some fresh air. And I said “You’re a grown man, you’re a professional, you’re singing a song that’s a great song. What is the problem with the tears?�?
And all of a sudden that little child that lives within us that we never lose remembered saying that one day I’d meet Jiminy Cricket and he’d be my friend. I not only met Jiminy Cricket and he became my friend, I now became the very character that I had fallen in love with as a kid. And subconsciously all of that feeling, all that emotion, came rising up and came down [in tears] and was an end result of that feeling and recognition of what had just happened to me.
So when you hear that phrase “when you wish upon a star, your dreams will come true,�? it works, folks, because I’m a living example of it.